ELECTRONICALLY REPRINTED FROM JUNE 2010

with the tire retailers whose ads can be found throughout our magazine.

To test the mud chuckers, we headed to the rich brown mud fields of the San Gabri-al Canyon OHV Area near Azusa, California. While there we rotated each set of tires between a moderately modified ’10 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited piloted by Feature Editor Ali Mansour and a trail-proven ’47 Willys flatfender driven by Editor-in-Chief Rick Péwé. Since the two vehicles were decades apart (as were the drivers), we were able to evaluate each tire as it per-formed on these unique platforms.

Over and over we headed through the muck with each mud-terrain mounted on a 15x8 Mickey Thompson Classic II wheel and aired at 20 psi. And after a full day of getting stuck, tapping rev limiters, and sawing steering wheels, we let the mud clumps dry and sat down to compare notes. For this test we evaluated each tire as it performed in the mud, nowhere else. This meant that if the tire slung the goo out quickly, was easy to spin, laid down a nice footprint, and was fun to drive on, it scored high. This also meant if the tire packed fast and left us spinning in place, down the list it went.

So after hours upon hours of mud whop-ping madness, did we come up with a king of the pit? You bet we did. Is it the best mud tire in the world? We can’t say, but in this pack of five it reigned supreme. To find out more about the competitors and which tire clawed its way to the top, read on.

By Ali MansourPhotograPhy AlAn Huber and Ali MAnsour

Finding the tire that fits your wheeling needs and wants can be tough. This is especially true when your weekend trail machine also serves as your weekday commuter. Currently there are more mud-terrain tires

on the market than ever before in the his-tory of our 4x4 hobby. While we’re thrilled about this fresh wave of off-road rubber, it hasn’t made it any easier to answer your question, “What’s the best mud-terrain for my 4x?” Even if a tire claims to be a mud master, until we cycle it through our own test we can’t be certain. For us, it is not enough for a mud-terrain merely to survive the pit; it has to make the pit its home.

Seeing how well our last mini mud-terrain shootout (Oct. ’09) was received, we devised a new mud tire roundup. This year’s Mini M-T Shootout pits five of the toughest 33-inch-tall mud terrains on the market against one another in a head-to-head slingfest. In order to make the test more manageable, we capped the field at five and required that every tire be a mud-ter-rain radial, be available for 15-inch wheels, have a cross-section no wider than 13.50 inches, and sport a suggested retail price under 300 bucks each. While the price cap was $300 per tire, most of the tires barely crept over $200. For the most accurate and current tire pricing we suggest checking

Cover SeCtion: MaSSive Mud tire teSt

Mud-terrain Shootout, part 2

Puttingmini m-tsto the test

putting Mini M-tS to the teSt

rubber runnerS-up >’10 JEEP WRAnGlER UnlIMITEdEnginE: 3.8l V-6, multi-port fuel injectedTransmission: Four-speed automaticTransfEr casE: nV241fronT axlE: dynatrac Pro Rock 44,

selectable E-locker, 4.10 gearsrEar axlE: dana 44, selectable E-locker,

4.10 gearssuspEnsion: 4-inch Evo Mfg.sTEEring: Stockmisc: dynomax exhaust, lOd bumpers,

Warn winch, Evo Mfg. rock sliders and body skins

>’47 WIllYS FlATFEndEREnginE: 4.3l Chevy V-6, carbureted Transmission: TH350 three-speed autoTransfEr casE: dana 18fronT axlE: dana 25, lock-Right, 5.38 gearsrEar axlE: dana 41, lock-Right, 5.38 gearssuspEnsion: StocksTEEring: Saginaw powermisc: Warn 8274, 11-inch drum brakes,

full float front and rear

tire turnerS

nitto Mud grappler

4 If this contest were ranked strictly on aggressive looks, the Mud Grapplers

would have had it in the bag. With their dinosaur claws hang-ing off the sidewall and massive tread blocks throughout, they looked ready to chew up the terra and anything else that got in their way.

While we didn’t have a scale to weigh them, it was clear

that the 13.5-inch-wide meats were the heaviest of the bunch. Swapping over from one of the competitors to these heavy lugs felt like an instant 10hp drain. On both our test vehicles the Mud Grapplers left an excellent footprint in the dirt, and as long as the revs were high the dirt found ways to escape.

With its aggressive sidewall and nice lug stagger, we had high hopes for the Mud Grappler, but the lack of low-speed clean-

ing and lateral traction when clawing out of the pit sent this heavyweight tire back a spot or two.

SPECSsizE: 33x13.50x15load rangE: CTrEad dEpTh (in): 21⁄32

SourCeniTTo TirE usa inc.www.nittotire.com

YokohaMa geolander M/t

5 The Yokohama Geolander M/T was the smallest (looking) and lightest tire

of the bunch. The Geolander was the only directional tire in our test, and its forward V-shaped tread pattern proved to be both a blessing and a curse. While high revs were required to keep the mini muds moving forward, to our surprise

they cleaned and clawed more easily in reverse. Since we were testing the tires as Yoko intended them to be mounted, we opted not to switch them around for an against-the-grain run.

Overall we found the Geo-lander to be a competent light-weight mud cleat, but the lack of sidewall lugs and the compact pattern left us spinning in our tracks more than we prefer. Mounting them opposite their

intended direction may have helped, but it still would have been tough for these muds to move up in such a talented field of competitors.

SPECSsizE: 33x12.50x15load rangE: CTrEad dEpTh (in): 19⁄32

SourCeYokohama TirE corp.www.yokohamatire.com

diCk Cepek Mud CountrY

2 Dick Cepek was building mud tires before most of us even knew what a

mud pit looked like. With the company’s rich history in off-road motorsports and a deep understanding of what works in the dirt, the DC Mud Countrys did not disappoint. No matter if it was a dead stop, a low-speed pass, or a high-rev plunge, the

tires worked well and slung dirt consistently throughout the test. While the tread stag-ger didn’t appear to be the most aggressive of the bunch, the well-placed lugs and tire sipes allowed the mini mud-terrain to self-clean, ejecting the clumps between its claws. In appearance, weight, and performance the Mud Countrys were extremely similar to the tires that won, but just lacked that little bit of mud prowess to

edge out our number one.

SPECSsizE: 33x12.50x15load rangE: CTrEad dEpTh (in): 20.5⁄32

SourCedick cEpEk TirEs & WhEElswww.dickcepek.com

toYo open CountrY M/t

3 From the wide tread blocks to the chiseled sidewalls, the Toyo Open Country

is a very bold and well-defined tire. While most tread patterns sweep and round off into the sidewall, the Toyo’s pattern squares off the tread stagger to create a wide footprint and a unique look.

Though the Toyo isn’t exactly

lightweight, it seemed easy to spin on both of our test vehicles. Low-speed cleaning was good, and the faster they spun the easier they cleaned. A few saws of the wheel proved the side-walls to be effective traction aids, and overall the tire felt at home in the mud.

Another nice trait was the quick cleaning as soon as we exited the pit. A few rotations on dry dirt and there were hardly any muddy clumps left in the tread.

In the end the tire performed above average again and again. Its consistent showing landed this free-range mud-terrain in the middle of the pack.

SPECSsizE: 33x12.50x15load rangE: CTrEad dEpTh: 21⁄32

SourCeToYo TirE usa corp.www.toyotires.com

Mini M-t teSt

as one of the legendary names in the off-road world, Mickey Thomp-son excels in building durable

and lightweight aluminum wheels for your off-road machine. In order to have a constant wheel variable for our test, we mounted each tire on a 15x8 Mickey Thompson Classic II wheel. The lightweight rims made swapping tires around a bit easier on the back and cre-ated less unsprung weight and rolling resistance for the Jeeps. informa-Tion: Mickey Thompson Performance, 330.928.9092, www.mickeythomp-sontires.com

since our five sets of 33-inch mud-terrains weren’t going to mount themselves on our 15-inch Mickey Thompson wheels, we teamed up with the 4Wheel Parts store in Van Nuys, California. Though mounting 20 tires and wheels is a pretty tall order,

the 4Wheel Parts crew had us fixed up in no time flat. Seeing as how we wouldn’t be road testing the mini mud-terrains on this test, we bypassed the balancing machine and aired each tire to 20 psi. informaTion: 4Wheel Parts, Van Nuys, CA, 818.988.2754, www.4wheelparts.com

Wheel ClaSSiCS

4Wheel Mounting

Spider SpaCing

to prevent our having two sets of wheels for the test, we installed a pair of heavy-duty Spidertrax wheel adapters on the

’10 four-door Jeep Wrangler JK. This allowed us to easily covert the JK’s factory 5-on-5 wheel bolt pattern to 5-on-51⁄2. This created a safe and easy way for us to transfer each wheel set from one ride to the other. infor-maTion: Spidertrax, 800.286.0898, www.spidertrax.com

San gabriel CanYon ohv area

to test our batch of mini mud-terrains, we needed a proper wheeling venue with plen-ty of rich dirt and fresh pits. Fortunately we

were able to secure our pit paradise nearby at the San Gabriel Canyon OHV Area just outside of Azusa, California. To help coordinate our top-secret mud testing, we enlisted the help of Azusa Canyon Off Road Association President Mike Bishop (left). An active off-road enthu-siast, Bishop works with local and state land use officials to help keep places like the San Gabriel Canyon OHV Area open. From all of us at 4-Wheel & Off-Road, a big thank-you goes out to Mike and the San Gabriel OHV Area Forest Service for allowing this test to happen. infor-maTion: U.S. Forest Service, San Gabriel Can-yon OHV Area, 626.910.1235, www.fs.fed.us

putting Mini M-tS to the teSt

king of the pit

it’s never easy to pick a win-ner in a shootout like this. Considering all the variables

that come into play, it can be almost maddening splitting hairs over such a competent bunch of tires. Luckily, two things usually happen as we near the end of one of our tests: A frontrunner emerges, and the low-performer becomes increasingly more obvious. Though we thought every tire fit nicely into the mud-terrain category, the Mickey Thomp-son Baja MTZ Radial simply performed the best out of the bunch.

With over 40 years of off-road racing and business experience, Mickey Thompson has crafted some of the largest and most

recognizable tires and wheels in the industry. So when the 33x12.50 Baja MTZ Radials showed up in our test, the leg-endary nameplate had a lot to live up to.

While it’s hard to pinpoint the most defining feature that made the MTZ our top pick, we credit most of its high marks to its effi-cient self-cleaning.

Whether we ran our Jeep Wrangler JK with the selectable lockers unlocked or dropped the Willys flatfender crossways into the pit, the tires always ejected the mud effortlessly and kept both rigs digging for-wards. Though the tread pat-tern doesn’t look extremely aggressive for a pit master, it’s clear that Mickey Thompson’s

mud-minded tire engineers did their homework when creating the pattern.

In the end we found that there’s often more than meets the eye when it comes to a mod-ern mud-terrain, and sometimes a mild tread stagger and well-placed cleats are all it takes to find traction in places other tires simply can’t.

SPECSsizE: 33x12.50x15load rangE: CTrEad dEpTh (in): 20.5⁄32

SourCemickEY Thompson pErformancE TirEs & WhEEls330.928.9092 www.mickeythompsontires.com

MiCkeY thoMpSon baja Mtz radial

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Winner

Posted with permission from the September 2009 issue of 4-Wheel & Off-Road ® www.4wheeloffroad.com. Copyright 2010 Source Interlink Media. All rights reserved.For more information on the use of this content, contact Wright’s Media at 877-652-5295

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